How to Set Up Your Affiliate Hosting Work Space

As an affiliate, you need to set up a web site that will promote your offers. By having your own site, you can maximize your control. You can minimize the operating conditions. You still need to abide by commerce laws, decency standards, etc, but you can control your promotional messages.

First, you'll need a web host account. Arvixe is one of the best. This hosting provider gives you many features for a low cost. To get started, you only need to decide whether you want to support a lot of sites, or just a few.

The cost is as low as $4 a month for a pre-paid plan. For that, you can support up to 6 domains, or your own Internet web addresses. For many people, that will be completely adequate. The plan even includes a free domain address, (“youdomain.com”, etc), so it may be all you need.

Arvixe does include other options. The only one that you should consider with your initial purchase is an SSL certificate. This stands for "Secure Socket Layer", and it allows your web site to use the "HTTPS" protocol. Visitors will be better protected, especially any information that they enter on your site. If you are doing direct e-commerce, SSL is a must. For affiliate promotions, this is usually optional since the network provider will have SSL.

SSL is only $25 per year for a certificate. Arvixe will administer your certificate. You can also use a shared certificate which is free and useful for many sites. The site offers helpful tutorials that explain the differences.

For the purpose of this article, it is assumed that you do not sign up for a certificate. You can add it later if it becomes necessary for your busines..

For as low as $7 per month, you can have unlimited domains attached to your account. This is a more complicated hosting arrangement, but once set up, the processes are easy to manage. If you choose a shorter pre-paid time, the cost will be a little higher.

Arvixe plans offer unlimited data space for your web site. This will allow you to save many pages, images and videos. You also get unlimited traffic. This is great if your web site becomes very popular. You will avoid running into limits that either cost you more money, or cause web site outages for your customers.

Select the personal class and either the $4 or $7 plan. As you can see, the other features are identical for the two plans. You can check out the details, but they are very powerful. Choose the payment option that you would like. The price goes up for shorter lengths. Notice that you get a free domain with your account. This can save you up to $20 per year.

If you want to add additional domain names, these can be purchased through Arvixe or through another Domain Host. Your domains can be in the standard top areas such as ".COM", ".ORG", etc, or they can be specialized like ".TV", ".CA", etc.

Enter an account name and password in the fields. You must read and agree to the terms and conditions. Click “Next”.

When you complete the purchase, you will begin to receive emails from Arvixe.

One of the emails will give you links to helpful instructions. Another email will welcome you to the company.

When everything is set up, you can login to your hosting account. The interface is via the “cPanel” application. You access this application by adding the name to your domain name in your browser. For example, to get the above, you enter “youdomain.com/cpanel” and press enter.

The cPanel screen displays:

There are many options displayed on this screen. Help topics are available. Web statistics are viewed here. Your account options can be modified.

Scroll down and find the “WordPress” link:

When you activate this, you will begin to setup your web site. The script “Softaculous” will run, allowing you to install WordPress:

Enter a few details in the provided fields:

Add the admin account, password, and your email address. Click the final install button. You can enter an email address which will receive a completion message. The install process will only take a moment.

Once the WordPress install is complete, you can access your new site via the Dashboard. Type in “yourdomain.com/wp-admin” and press return.

Enter your WordPress login details. Note that you now have two Arvixe accounts. The main is for cPanel which controls your hosting details. The next is for WordPress. This is for your particular site details. This is where you will advertise your affiliate offers. You can have up to 6 WordPress sites on different domains when you have the basic Arvixe hosting package. The upgrade allows you to have unlimited domains.

For new affiliate marketers, WordPress is the recommended tool. It allows you to establish any number of web pages. These will all fit a theme that you establish. There is a lot of information available for WordPress users. It is now the most popular web content management site. It supports many upgrades. Data entry forms, video support, and much more, are available for WordPress. You can purchase upgrades or install many useful free ones.

As a marketer, you need to spend time working on your offers. WordPress allows you to be productive, rather than wasting your time programming. There is a vibrant community who can help you. There are lots of help pages available through search engines. Practically any problem you run into has been solved already, and the Internet will have the result.

You should strive to understand WordPress because that application will become vital for your new business. It is a free content management system. There is a lot of information that you can learn. Arvixe provides many helpful videos. These are great because they describe the installation that closely matches your own.

Standard WordPress comes with a default theme. Get started with this, but be sure to review available themes. Changing a theme is easily done. The topic, however, is fairly involved, warranting its own article.

Please leave any comments you have in the space below. Good luck with your affiliate marketing career!